Integration between OnSSET and pypsa/osemosys

[kasper]

I’m hoping to start an electrification analysis soon where I will use OnSSET for the first time. For some of the bigger (mini-)grids, it could be interesting to pair the OnSSET output with a generation planning tool to find the best mix of resources and storage for a certain demand. From my current understanding, both pypsa and osemosys would be suitable.

Does anybody have experience with coupling OnSSET and pypsa/osemosys? Any reason to choose one over the other?

Many thanks in advance for any insights that you could share!

[AndreasSahlberg]

Hi Kasper!

There are several existing studies linking OnSSET with OSeMOSYS and similar. So far, these have used OSeMOSYS to model the electricity generation supplying the national power grid, not specific mini-grids. PyPSA or any other capacity expansion modelling tool could be coupled with OnSSET in a similar manner. Linking a few studies here:

• I. Pappis et al., “Influence of Electrification Pathways in the Electricity Sector of Ethiopia—Policy Implications Linking Spatial Electrification Analysis and Medium to Long-Term Energy Planning,” Energies, 2021.
• M. Bissiri, P. Moura, R. Perez, N. Figueiredo, P. Pereira da Silva, Generation capacity expansion planning with spatially-resolved electricity demand and increasing variable renewable energy supply: Perspectives from power pooling in West Africa, Applied Energy, 2024.
• N. Moksnes, A. Korkovelos, D. Mentis, and M. Howells, “Electrification pathways for Kenya–linking spatial electrification analysis and medium to long term energy planning,” Environmental Research Letters, 2017.

If you want to go into more detail on mini-grids, there are also open-source alternatives that focus on mini-grid generation and distribution systems. Here are a few examples:

• MicroGridsPy: GitHub - MicroGridsPy/MicroGridsPy at Development_Linopy
• OnSSET for Mini-Grids (OMG): GitHub - SEforALL-IEAP/OMG: Quick techno-economic analysis of potential mini-grid sites. The script is based on OnSSET model with modifications to accommodate specifications related to the overall viability of mini-grids.
• OffGridPlanner (focused on Nigeria at the moment, but the underlying code can also be accessed): https://offgridplanner.org/